basic hummus

• 2 cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
• cumin
• adobo
• fresh cilantro
• juice of one lemon
• pita chips

Place all ingredients but pita chips in food processor, pulse until smooth. Serve with pita chips.

The dish: There are times when I see some truth in the old saying "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree", and then there are other times I think that my family's tree must be planted at the top of a large hill in an area that's prone to heavy winds. I was thinking this over just recently when my parents joined Kim and I for a weekend away in Wilkes-Barre PA to see The Royal Scam, the best Steely Dan tribute band out there. I invited the rents figuring that my dad would love to go as he went to King's College in Wilkes-Barre and has been a fan of Steely Dan for longer than I've been alive. My mom is not a fan of SD and for that reason alone I felt the hill next to the orchard grow steeper and the winds strengthen. Kim and I decided to make a pit stop in Scranton to look at fireworks (we didn't by any silly, that would be illegal) and have lunch at one of the last surviving Ground Round restaurants remotely within driving distance. The Ground Round holds lots of happy memories for us and we were so taken with nostalgia that I asked our waitress if we could purchase the ramekin our spinach dip came in as a memento. She happily brought us out our little dish wrapped up and ready for travel, a gift from everyone at the Scranton Ground Round. Later that night at the River Street Jazz Cafe (an awesome place to see a show with great music, food and staff), we all agreed that the plate that held our delicious hummus was unique. I must have gotten wrapped up in Steely's melodies after that, because next thing I knew our waitress was bringing out our dish wrapped up and ready to travel back to New York. Turns out my mom asked the same question I had a few hours earlier and the good folks at the jazz cafe were happy to see their plate go to a good home. Playing with my new food processor, hummus seemed like an obvious thing to make and what better way to photograph it then using the dish and the ramekin that suggests my family tree might just live in a flat orchard with only a gentle breeze.

salad with honey roasted rhubarb and Parmesan crisps in champagne vinaigrette

• mixed salad greens
• rhubarb, chopped
• honey
• Parmesan cheese
• champagne vinegar
• olive oil
• sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In large casserole dish combine rhubarb with a generous amount of honey and roast for 20 minutes or until cooked (I figured this would be messy, so I used a tray from the dollar store so I could just toss it when done). Once rhubarb is cooked, drain water and chill. Line a baking tray with parchment paper sprayed with olive oil, or a cooking spray if you don't own a Misto (there's that crass commercialism again- really folks, I don't sell this stuff). Place 3 inch ound piles of Parmesan cheese on tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until just browned and crispy. Once done, set aside to cool. Whisk together oil and vinegar with a few pinches of sugar to taste. Assemble greens on plate, top with rhubarb and crisp, drizzle with dressing.

The dish: This salad was the beginning of a dinner where we hosted both Kim's and my own parents. Everyone had a great time (at least they lied to me and said they did) and this dish was a nod to both of our mothers. The rhubarb came directly from Kim's parent's garden, and my mother-in-law was happy to taste a new preparation of the amazingly bitter veggie. Them bringing me the rhubarb and wondering what I was going to do with it had a cool Iron Chef vibe to it. The crisps were something I made for Easter dinner last year (pre-blog) and my mother absolutely loved them. I would make them more often for her, but truthfully, Parmesan doesn't have the sweetest aroma and my kitchen tends to smell like a foot after making a batch. Be sure to have your exhaust fan on high when attempting this at home. Things went without a hitch though; Kim's parents loved the crisps, my parents loved the rhubarb and all we had were empty salad plates.

lamb and pepper fried brown rice

• quart of cooked brown rice (take out works great)
• 2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 orange bell peppers, seeded and cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 pound of leg of lamb, trimmed of fat and bone and cut into bite sized pieces
• fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
• wok oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• tablespoons soy sauce (I had some leftover ginger soy so I combined it with regular)
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• pinch of ground chili pepper

In a small bowl wisk together sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, mirin and chili pepper, set aside. Heat wok over highest flame you got for about 5 minutes. Add a swirl of wok oil and toss in the peppers stirring frequently, cook for about 3-5 minutes. Add another swirl of wok oil and add lamb, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes or until lamb appears fully cooked. Add another swirl of oil and add rice stirring mixture for additional 3 minutes, or longer if the rice was cold. Remove wok from heat and continue stirring for 2 minutes. Right before serving stir in mint and sauce into mixture.

The dish: My mother is a schoolteacher and as such growing up there was always a healthy emphasis placed upon reading. To this day I have a well worn library card and love to read books I would never want to own, but enjoy going through. The inspiration for this dish came from a book on Japanese pub cuisine (who knew such an animal existed), where it was done as more of a stir fry and without the same sauce and mint. The idea for the sauce came from mostly stuff I had lying around, you could omit a few things or just use a prepared wok sauce and be fine. Inspiration for the mint is also rooted in my upbringing; a few times a year my mom would make lamb chops and always serve them with mint jelly. I only eat lamb about once a year or so but have a hard time enjoying it without something mint, so I threw the fresh stuff in for good measure and it worked great, just be sure to add it at the last minute as the flavor quickly cooks off. In addition to learning, thrift was another virtue present in my childhood home and I'm proud to say that Hannaford has yellow and orange peppers on sale this week and I've already made two things using them, count on at least one more.